Post 24 ends season in zone championship

The emotion on the face of McPherson American Legion Post 24 head coach Craig Marshall after Wednesday night’s Class AAA Zone 5 championship game spoke volumes.

Chris SwickSports Editor

The emotion on the face of McPherson American Legion Post 24 head coach Craig Marshall after Wednesday night’s Class AAA Zone 5 championship game spoke volumes.Marshall’s seniors made a spectactular comeback in the elimination game against Buhler Wednesday afternoon at Grant Sports Complex to advance to the finals against Newton. Unfortunately, the Knights stunned McPherson with 10 runs in the first two innings of the championship game on their way to an 18-4 route and a birth in next week’s state tournament in Hays.“We just ran out of gas,” Marshall said after the Newton loss. “We didn’t play very well physically, we didn’t play very well mentally and that happens when you run out of gas sometimes.”Over the course of the three days of the zone tournament, McPherson played 34 innings of baseball. Comparatively, Newton played only 18.McPherson fought through an emotional rollercoaster against Buhler to start the day. Post 24 held a 5-0 lead going into the sixth inning, with Brodie Burney holding Buhler at bay from the mound. Unfortunately, Buhler broke loose for a six-run sixth and followed that up with three in seventh inning to take a 9-5 lead.Tanner DeVore came up huge for Post 24 in the eighth, however, as he drove in three runs off a double to the left-center fence that tied the game at 9-9.McPherson then picked up the walk-off 10-9 win after Brodie Burney was hit by a pitch.Aaron Marshall picked up the win on the mound, working the last two innings. He gave up no runs or hits, struck out two and walked three.“Tanner’s hit gave us the confidence that we could win it,” Marshall said. “I just knew we were going to win it after that hit.”Despite the lopsided score of the Newton game, during which the Knights rattled McPherson for 21 hits, Marshall was proud of his team for not giving up.“They kept fighting, they kept hitting,” Marshall said. “Ethan [Nadeau] did really well to hold down the fort, we just couldn’t get anything mounted, offensively.”Nadeau came into the game in relief of game two starter Garrett Higgins in the second inning and gave up eight runs, four of which were earned. He struck out one and walked four.McPherson finishes the summer season with a record of 17-18.

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